wahh

I'm leaving Granada tomorrow. what? 

It just hit me when I hugged my sister goodbye.

tears came out of nowhere. 

nevermind I'll be back to visit in 2 weeks.

buenas noches. que descanses bien.

un abrazo, cariño.

My english

is the worst.

ESTOY HASTA LAS NARICES.

This presentation I'm preparing is so boring, I can hardly stay awake. Who cares about my thoughts on second language education in Spain? No one. And, I don't even have the option to sidetrack...it's so much harder in Spanish. My poor class...

hombre!

My second favorite family in Granada- Katie's host family. From the left, 

Katie, Sara, Nabil and Nur. Missing mom! 

Can't. wait. to. eat. American. Happy Mother's Day.

I've been so spoiled as far as food goes, here in Granada. My host mom is a world class cook of Spanish cuisine, which I've appreciated thus far, but one can only eat tortilla de patatas so many times before one wishes she had some chinese food. A cheesesteak maybe. Breakfast at Sabrina's. Pumpkin pancakes on West Ave. I don't even like cheesesteaks that much. And I thought variety was overrated...

Of course, scanning the nytimes today, I came across this article:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/travel/10hours.html?em=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1241985886-FDeGAnm6vxv+xes15yCY/A

Nostalgia is against me.

Fortunately, today was a blessed day, and I don't mean to make a bad pun out of it being Sunday. It was sushi-making day! Helena (my sister), Inés (host mom), my friend Andrew and I rolled sushi for what seemed like hours on end. Then we commenced. I think I ate 15 sushi rolls, 2 inari rolls, 2 or 3 egg rolls, some weird thing with spinach in it, and lots of krupuk. Almost satisfying enough for the month I have left in Europa.

(must've been missing philadelphia rolls.)

Another incomplete picture of my life in Spain

a tiny bit of my stay in Morocco:

Tetuan. But it looks just like Spain.

One of many beautiful parts of Morocco.

So a man was walking his monkey in Asilah one day...

there has to be a joke that starts like this in Morocco.

We all got in on bread making. This is the pueblo house we stayed in in Belouta.

We're all smiling because Jess can't cook for her life.

One of the many amazing meals we had in Morooco. They know how to eat. And they eat more than Spaniards! The idea befuddles me.

Camillo riding. giddy-up.

Wasn't all that exciting, but I didn't expect it to be. 

Me and Stacy in Chefchaouen.

Getting married.

Not a good look for me.

¡Hola brasileña!

Oops, missed another day again. Oh well. Goals are meant to be broken, I think is how that saying goes.

So I think Spain has reached a consensus- I am Brasileña, or from Brazil. Out of all the nationalities I've been offered on the street, Brazil has been the most common. My favorite was Madagascar (what?). 

Almost finished my paper on the teaching of secondary languages in Spain and Amurrica. Then evaluations, a presentation, and I'm done? Time flies, hombre...

Chelsea lost the game against Barcelona last night (pobrecitos), after a ridiculous goal Barcelona made during the 4 minutes of overtime. This means Barça plays Manchester. Oh wait, what? You're not following football? I mean soccer? I think I'm going to miss Europe. 

Pitingo

yesterday's forgotten entry:

Día de la Cruz was much better than expected. There was something going down in almost every plaza (think, one or two plazas per city block). All of the little girls were clad in flamenco dresses, as well as many older women. Plaza de Larga featured anyone and everyone doing some sort of flamenco. Mirador de San Nicolas was full of hippies, as usual, ignoring the rest of the world. It was pretty eventful, and not half as debilitating as Semana Santa. 

I'm raising my kids in Spain, so they have to dress like this. 

today:

Going to see Luis Buñuel's "El río y la muerte" tonight. I'm not sure what it's about, but he was a weirdo so it should be interesting. 

Día de la cruz

Today is día de la cruz, which is when lots of people decorate large crosses with flowers and ask for money and play music and do flamenco and stuff. There might be a little more to that, but this is all I've gathered. Like the traditions of many religious (Catholic) holidays here, the whole affair seems a little sacrilegious to me. To walk around with a cross in one hand, and a box for change in the other? Like my friend Katie put it, "...and I was like, you want money for dressing up your cross? So what. Jesus died on a cross." That said, I'll probably walk around and admire it and maybe drop a euro in someone's money tin, because IT'S SO PRETTY.

here's a photo I didn't take of día de la cruz in the Albaicín:

http://www.andaluciaimagen.com/Plaza-Larga-el-dia-de-La-Cruz--Granada_35452.jpg 

Today is also mother's day here. Friday was also labor day. And yesterday was the big game between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It's like a 4 for 1. 

Me duele la nariz

I've been blowing my nose for like, 2 weeks now. It hurts, it hurts,

and the skin around it is raw. There's no such thing as a soft tissue in Spain,

for your mental notes.

"The apparition of these faces in the crowd

petals on a wet, black bough." (In a Station of the Metro, Ezra Pound)

---these words have been running through my mind all day. thank you james longenbach.

and happy birthday dad! I miss you!! 

reaching social security now!

broma!!

"We've been pompous ever since Columbus couldn't work a compass"

The writing's on the (kitchen) wall. Europe lovez Obamz.

and Spain loves Christopher Colombus.

fun fact!: morocco was the first country to support america's independence. my friend tarik told me this proudly, after which i offered thanks on behalf of my african and native american ancestors. bust! i'm five years old.

thoughts today:

- it's snowing pollen, which is my second greatest fear, after swine flu. but keeping the flu "in perspective"...

- i came up with a great thesis question the other night, after a long conversation about language. unfortunately, i'm an idiot and only wrote down, "the ownership of language". i'll never remember what it was. i guess i at least have a topic.

- i went through 6 packs of tissues yesterday. time to cut the holistic medicinal practice of breathing in the steam of boiling water in order to cure my congestion. it's not working, host mom.

- the birds in Granada sing all day long.

goals today:

- window shop at yokohama? yoksana? whatever the boutique is called, i'm finding it hard not to spend my money there.

- take my book of Lorca poetry and my english-spanish dictionary down to the park. be patient with it.

- write a page of my final project paper. 

- send my pile of snail mail. 

- go to Sacromonte tonight and see a flamenco show. be kidnapped by river gypsies and be forced adopt their culture and lifestyle of singing and dancing and riding in caravans. become the next Carmen Amaya of flamenco.